Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Grant Forrest relishing his defence of Hero Open after ‘finding something’ just in time

Grant Forrest is defending his Hero Open in St Andrews this week.
Grant Forrest is defending his Hero Open in St Andrews this week.

Winning is supposed to solve everything, but in the year since he won at the Hero Open Grant Forrest admits he “got a bit lost”.

12 months ago Forrest shot 62-66 on the weekend to storm to victory at Fairmont St Andrews’ Torrance Course for his maiden DP World Tour victory. It seemed like the culmination of the potential the former Scottish Men’s and Boys’ champion always seemed to have.

But he admits he struggled for much of this season until a strong showing in the Cazoo Classic at Hillside at the weekend. A tied third finish there gives him plenty of confidence coming into his title defence on the cliffside location overlooking the Home of Golf.

‘I feel like we’ve found something’

“There’s always a bit more pressure and build up heading into an event you’ve won,” he said. “Before last week, the season wasn’t going too well and I wasn’t feeling that good about things.

“But I feel like we’ve kind of found something. I can take a lot of confidence from last week and hopefully keep it going.”

Forrest is the type that takes advice, but ultimately believes you should ‘own’ your swing and self-solve problems as much as possible.

“I got a bit lost, to be honest this year,” he admits. “I think it’s easy to rely on coaches too much. They can tell you loads of things and it’s all good information, but, at the end of the day, you’ve got to figure out what it feels like yourself.

“I think a couple of weeks ago I just picked up some good feelings. I went to (coach) Alan (McCloskey) with them, explained that’s what felt good to me. We talked some things over and last week was probably the best I’ve felt about my game for a long time.”

‘It was back to basics a bit’

It’s always a balance between natural talent and technique, he added.

“I’ve been working with Alan since April. I’d been chopping and changing a bit and it was back to basics a bit.

“I feel I got too wrapped up in the technical stuff and got away from that. At the same time, there were some technical issues that weren’t allowing me to play the type of golf to compete.

“For me especially, when I pick something up that works and I feel it click, it’s like a switch and I can start playing well and the confidence comes back pretty quickly.

“That’s golf. When it’s not going well, you wonder if you are not going to play well again. When you are playing well, you wonder how you can ever play badly. It’s just managing that and trying to not get too up or too down on yourself.”

‘That’s three decades he’s won in now’

His countryman Richie Ramsay’s victory at Hillside is a good example of what’s needed, he reckons.

“You could see what it meant to Richie on 18,” he said. “That’s three decades he’s won in now, 2009 was his first win.

“That’s a testament to what a good player he is and how long he’s kept that level up.

“I played with him Thursday and Friday and he was just really playing solid golf. Hillside’s a phenomenal course and it suited Richie quite well. There’s a real premium on being accurate off the tee, and he’s so straight.”

Last year’s win was a thriller, in a battle first with friend and fellow Scot Calum Hill, and then with England’s James Morrison.

“I probably haven’t played better than that over a weekend,” he recalled. “Calum hadn’t missed a shot for eight holes in the final round. But there was a five shot swing in three holes when he got into some trouble.

“Then I was leading coming down 16 and saw James was on 18. You kind of expected him to birdie that, and he did. So I hit a poor wedge into the 16th green and three-putt.

“At least going on to the 17th tee I knew what I needed to do. I hit a great 9-iron to six feet and rolled it in, which made 18 a lot easier.

“Although it was the longest three footer of my life there!”

Conversation